Comprehensive Biological Psychology & Psychopathology Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the key concepts from Biological Psychology and Psychopathology based on the lecture transcript.

Learning

A relatively permanent change in behaviour caused by previous experience.

Memory

The processes of encoding, storing, and retrieving information.

Reflexes

Automatic survival responses mainly controlled by the spinal cord, such as pulling away from a hot surface or the infant grasp reflex.

Habituation

Reduced response after repeated exposure to a harmless stimulus.

Dishabituation

Recovery of a habituated response after presentation of a novel stimulus.

Classical Conditioning

Associative learning where a neutral stimulus becomes able to trigger a response after being paired with a biologically important stimulus.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

In Pavlov’s experiment, this refers to the food which naturally triggers salivation.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

In Pavlov’s experiment, this refers to the whistle which triggers salivation only after learning.

Excitatory Conditioning

A type of conditioning where a stimulus predicts an important event WILL happen.

Inhibitory Conditioning

A type of conditioning where a stimulus predicts an important event will NOT happen.

Taste Aversion Learning

Learning to avoid a flavour associated with illness, which serves an adaptive purpose to avoid poisoning.

White Coat Syndrome

Anxiety around doctors caused by learned associations with illness or pain.

Thorndike’s Law of Effect

The principle that behaviours followed by satisfying outcomes are repeated, while those followed by unpleasant outcomes decrease.

Operant Conditioning

The development of learning where behaviour is shaped specifically by its consequences.

Skinner Box

A chamber where animals learn through reinforcement or punishment.

Reinforcer

A rewarding outcome that strengthens a specific behaviour.

Discriminative Stimulus (Sd)

A cue signalling that reinforcement is currently available.

Continuous Reinforcement

Rewarding a behaviour every time it occurs, leading to fast learning but fast extinction.

Partial Reinforcement

Rewarding behaviour only sometimes, which leads to slower learning but greater resistance to extinction.

Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule

Reinforcement provided after a fixed time interval, resulting in a scalloped responding pattern.

Variable Ratio (VR) Schedule

Reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses, producing the strongest behaviour and used in gambling machines.

Forgetting Curve

A representation showing that memory declines rapidly at first and then more slowly over time.

Iconic Memory

Visual sensory memory.

Echoic Memory

Auditory sensory memory.

Short-term Memory (STM) Characteristics

Limited capacity of about $5$–$7$ items and a duration of $15$–$30$ seconds.

Shallow Processing

According to Levels of Processing Theory, this involves processing the physical appearance of a stimulus.

Deep Processing

Semantic processing focused on meaning, which produces the strongest memory.

Consolidation

The stabilisation of memories through physical brain changes.

Engram

The biological memory trace.

Lashley’s Law of Mass Action

The principle that memory loss depends more on the amount of cortex removed than the exact location.

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to form new memories, notably seen in patient H.M. (Henry Molaison).

Declarative Memory

Conscious memory for facts and events, for which the hippocampus is crucial.

Procedural Memory

Memory for skills and habits that can occur without conscious memory, such as in mirror tracing tasks.

Localised Dissociative Amnesia

Loss of memory for a specific event or period, usually caused by psychological trauma.

Ribot’s Law

The observation that recent memories are more vulnerable than older memories to brain damage.

Excitotoxicity

Neuronal death caused by excessive glutamate and calcium influx.

Autonomic Nervous System

The division of the nervous system that controls automatic bodily functions.

Sympathetic Nervous System

The part of the nervous system that prepares the body for action.

Basal Ganglia

Brain structures responsible for the control and modulation of movement patterns.

Hypothalamus

The brain structure responsible for homeostasis, food intake regulation, and endocrine control.

Cerebellum

The brain structure involved in coordination, balance, posture, and the execution of skilled movement.

Resting Membrane Potential

The state of a neuron when it is not firing, approximately $-70\,mV$.

Action Potential

A rapid reversal of membrane polarity that allows for neural communication.

Myelination

Fatty insulation around axons that speeds up the transmission of signals.

Achromatopsia

The inability to perceive colour, often related to Area $V4$.

Apraxia

The inability to perform purposeful movement.

Broca’s Aphasia

A condition caused by left frontal lobe damage resulting in slow, broken speech and poor grammar.

Wernicke’s Aphasia

A condition caused by left temporal lobe damage resulting in fluent but meaningless speech and poor comprehension.

Arcuate Fasciculus

The fibre tract that connects Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas.

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

The biological clock that synchronises bodily rhythms with environmental light to control circadian rhythms.

REM Sleep

A sleep stage characterised by dreaming, rapid eye movements, desynchronised activity, and muscle paralysis.

Mesolimbic Dopamine Pathway

The reward pathway extending from the VTA to the nucleus accumbens, central to addiction.

Four D’s of Abnormality

The criteria used to define abnormality: Deviance, distress, dysfunction, and danger.

Specific Phobia

An anxiety disorder involving the fear of a specific object or situation.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

An anxiety disorder characterised by persistent excessive worry across many domains.

Delusions

Fixed false beliefs often present in psychosis or schizophrenia.

Negative Symptoms

Symptoms of schizophrenia such as reduced emotional expression, apathy, and lack of motivation.

Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia

The theory that schizophrenia is linked to an overactive dopamine system.

Why is learning and memory important?

They are the foundation of behaviour and shape habits, skills, beliefs, emotional repsonses, identity, behaviour change, and psychological therapy

Learning and memory together?

Learning - information, Memory - stores it, Retrival allows it to infulence future behaviour

Why has fatigue ruled out as an explanation for habituation?

A new stimulus restored the response

What did Adams & Dickson show?

Animals mentally represent outcomes and learn response- outcome relationships

Effects of continious reinforcement?

Fast learning but fast extinction

What are the effects of partial reinforcement?

Slower learning but greater resistance to extinction.

What is a fixed interval (FI) schedule?

Reinforcement after a fixed time interval.

What behavioural pattern occurs in fixed interval schedules

Scalloped responding

What is a variable interval (VI) schedule?

Reinforcement after unpredictable time intervals.

What behavioural pattern occurs in fixed ratio schedules?

High response bursts with pauses after reward.

What is a variable ratio (VR) schedule?

Reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses.

Which reinforcement schedule produces the strongest behaviour?

Variable ratio schedules.

Why did Ebbinghaus (who first studied memory) use nonsense syllables?

To avoid prior knowledge influencing memory.

What does the forgetting curve show?

Memory declines rapidly at first then more slowly.

How can the forgetting curve improve studying?

Through spaced repetition and regular review.

What is consolidation?

Stabilisation of memories through physical brain changes

What is an engram?

The biological memory trace.

What was Hebb’s main idea?

“Neurons that fire together wire together.”

What happens when neurons repeatedly activate together?

Their synaptic connections strengthen.

What are cell assemblies?

Linked groups of neurons representing information

What are phase sequences?

Chains of neural activity underlying thoughts and memories.

What did Duncan (1949) show using electroconvulsive shock?

Disrupting brain activity shortly after learning impairs memory consolidation.

What is Lashley’s Law of Mass Action?

Memory loss depends more on the amount of cortex removed than the exact location.

What is declarative memory?

Conscious memory for facts and events. - hippocampus

What is procedural memory?

Memory for skills and habits

What can memory disorders affect?

Forming, retrieving, recognising, and autobiographical memory.

What is dissociative amnesia?

Memory loss caused mainly by psychological trauma. - the default mode network

What is localised dissociative amnesia?

Loss of memory for a specific event or period.

What is generalised dissociative amnesia?

Extensive memory loss including identity

What is organic amnesia?

Memory loss caused by physical brain damage.

Q: What is anterograde amnesia? Q: What is retrograde amnesia?

A: Inability to form new memories.

A: Loss of memories formed before injury.

What is excitotoxicity?

Neuronal death caused by excessive glutamate and calcium influx.

Which hippocampal region is especially vulnerable to oxygen loss?

CA1 neurons

What are the two major divisions of the nervous system?

Central nervous system (CNS) - (the brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system (PNS).

What is the autonomic nervous system?

Controls automatic bodily functions.

What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?

Conserves energy and supports rest functions.

What does the somatic nervous system control?

Voluntary movement and sensory information.